Networked personal video storage and delivery

ABSTRACT

A portable video delivery device includes data storage, a secure processor, and a wireless network interface that acts as an access point for a secure personal wireless network. Transcoded media files are stored in the data storage so that the portable device maintains a library of stored media programs that can be carried along with the user during commuting, travel and/or other activities. To playback the stored programming, other media player devices use the personal wireless network to securely connect to the portable device and to obtain previously-transcoded content from the data storage of the device.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/221,922 which was filed on Jul. 28, 2016, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/057,390, which was filed on Mar. 1,2016. That application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 14/266,232, which was filed on Apr. 30, 2014.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to storage and delivery ofpersonal video content. More particularly, the following discussionrelates to devices, methods and systems that provide portable storageand wireless retrieval of personal video content.

BACKGROUND

Television viewers are no longer confined to their home television sets.With the advent of time and place shifting techniques, viewers can nowview their favorite television programs and other media content atvirtually any time and from virtually any place. Personal videorecorders (PVRs) and other time shifting devices are becomingincreasingly ubiquitous. Additionally, many television viewers now useplaceshifting devices to stream their television programs to mobilephones, tablets, personal computers, personal digital assistants, gameplayers and/or other devices other than traditional television sets.Modern television viewers now expect to watch television at times and inplaces that were not previously thought possible.

As television viewing becomes increasingly mobile, various challengescan be encountered. For example, many portable media players lacksufficient storage capacity to store all of the media content that auser may want to watch. Video content can quickly consume a large amountof storage, so most users have to choose a relatively small amount ofvideo content to carry in their phone, tablet or other personal deviceat any particular time. The limited storage severely restricts thechoice of content that is available when the user is away from home, andit also requires relatively frequent updates to maintain a fresh storeof unwatched content.

Placeshifting or other media streaming over telephone or data networkscan improve the availability of content, but streaming may be verydifficult in some locations (e.g., in aircraft, vehicles or other remotelocations where networks are unavailable, or in hotels or other busyareas where networks are too overloaded to provide adequate bandwidthfor video streaming). Even when adequate networks are available, videostreams can consume a relatively large amount of bandwidth, therebylimiting the quality of the received stream and/or potentially incurringsubstantial cost to transfer an entire program. Moreover, it isimportant to protect the intellectual property rights of content ownerseven as the content is being viewed in non-traditional places and times.

It is therefore desirable to create systems, devices and methods forproviding a variety of streaming media content to portable devices in aconvenient yet secure manner. These and other desirable features andcharacteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detaileddescription and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings and this background section.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various exemplary embodiments provide systems, devices and methods toprovide convenient yet effective portable media streaming. In variousembodiments, a portable device suitably comprises a network videotranscoder, data storage and a network server interface for providing apersonal local area network (LAN). The transcoder receives videoprograms from personal computers, television receivers, set top boxes,online media services and/or other sources and encodes/transcodes thereceived content into a format that is suitable for streaming over thepersonal LAN. The personal LAN may be a wireless network that is hostedby the portable storage device to allow subsequent video streaming ofthe previously-stored transcoded content to one or more client devices.The security of stored content can be protected through authentication,periodic check-ins, and/or other techniques as appropriate.

More particularly, some embodiments provide a portable device to delivervideo streams to at least one media player device suitably comprising atranscoder, a data storage, a wireless network interface, and aprocessor. The transcoder is configured to receive video content and totranscode the received video content into a format that is suitable fordelivery to the at least one media player over a personal wirelessnetwork. The data storage is configured to store the transcoded videocontent, and the wireless network interface is configured to provide awireless access point to the personal wireless network. The processor isconfigured to receive connection requests from the at least one mediaplayer device via the personal wireless network and to deliver thetranscoded video content to the at least one media player device via thepersonal wireless network.

Other embodiments provide methods executable by a portable video storagedevice to deliver video content to a media player. The method suitablycomprises receiving a digital credential from an authentication serviceat the portable video storage device, wherein the digital credentialidentifies the media player; storing transcoded video content in a datastorage of the portable video storage device; providing a wirelessaccess point to a personal wireless network by the portable videostorage device; receiving a connection request from the media player atthe portable video storage device via the personal wireless network,wherein the connection request comprises the digital credentialidentifying the media player; and if the digital credential receivedfrom the media player matches the digital credential received from theauthentication service, the portable video storage device providing thetranscoded video content from the portable video storage device to themedia player device via the personal wireless network.

Still other embodiments provide a portable device that interfaces with avideo transcoder to deliver video streams to at least one media playerdevice. The portable device suitably comprises a memory, hard drive orother data storage, a Wi-Fi or other wireless network interface, and aprocessor. The data storage is configured to store transcoded videocontent, and the wireless network interface is configured to provide awireless access point to the personal wireless network. The processor isconfigured to receive connection requests from the at least one mediaplayer device via the personal wireless network and to deliver thetranscoded video content to the at least one media player device via thepersonal wireless network.

These examples and other embodiments, aspects and features are describedin detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

Exemplary embodiments will hereinafter be described in conjunction withthe following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote likeelements, and

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example system for providing personalvideo streaming with a portable storage device; and

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an example method to provide personal videostreaming with a portable storage device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description of the invention is merely exemplaryin nature and is not intended to limit the invention or the applicationand uses of the invention. Furthermore, there is no intention to bebound by any theory presented in the preceding background or thefollowing detailed description.

According to various embodiments, a portable video delivery deviceincludes data storage, a secure processor, and a wireless networkinterface that acts as an access point for a personal wireless network.Transcoded media files are stored in the data storage so that theportable device maintains a relatively large library of stored mediaprograms that can be carried along with the user during commuting,travel and/or other activities. To playback the stored programming,other media player devices (e.g., mobile telephones, media players,video game players, tablet computers, personal computers and/or thelike) use the personal wireless network to connect to the portabledevice and to obtain previously-transcoded content from the data storageof the device. The content may be provided in a streaming format, as aside-loaded data file, and/or in any other format as desired. Furtherimplementations may implement data security to prevent furtherduplication and unauthorized use of the programming stored on theportable device. Parental controls and other features may also beprovided.

The portable device therefore provides storage of a relatively largeamount of transcoded video content as well as wireless retrieval of thevideo content to one or more video playback devices. This wirelessretrieval may allow, in some embodiments, multiple playback devices tosimultaneously receive separate video streams of different storedprograms. If a family was travelling together in a car, plane or othervehicle, for example, each member of the family could simultaneouslyobtain a personal video stream of a different program stored on theportable device, even if a streaming connection to the Internet oranother network was not readily available. The portable device thereforeprovides many of the benefits of a network-based streaming service, butwith fewer bandwidth and access constraints.

At least two variants of a portable storage device are described herein.In the first variant, the portable device includes an encoder ortranscoder within a common chassis or housing as the data storage andwireless interface. The transcoder suitably receives video content fromcomputers, television receivers, network services and/or the like. Thevideo content is converted into a suitable format for later streaming orside-loading prior to storage so that the converted content can later beretrieved and played back.

In the second variant, the portable device does not necessarily includetranscoding hardware itself, but rather interfaces with a separateencoder or transcoder device to receive transcoded programming that canbe stored and transported for later viewing. In this variant, theportable device interfaces with a transcoder provided within a set topbox, television receiver, placeshifting device, digital video recorder(DVR) and/or the like, or in a standalone network transcoding devicethat receives video content from other sources. The properly formattedvideo is provided to the portable device via a suitable interface sothat the transcoding hardware need not be carried along with theportable device, thereby reducing the size, complexity and powerconsumption of the portable device. In various embodiments, the securityof the content can be preserved by authenticating the portable deviceand/or the users' media players to the transcoder and/or to a suitableauthentication service, as desired. Other variations and equivalentembodiments could be formulated, many of which are described below.

Turning now to the drawing figures and with initial reference to FIG. 1,an example of a system 100 for processing video content for portablestorage and playback suitably includes a media storage device 102 thatreceives video content, stores transcoded content in a data storage 137,and that provides a personal wireless network 158 via a networkinterface 138. Device 102 may interact with an authentication service107 on network 108 or elsewhere to maintain the security of system 100,as described more fully below.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, device 102 suitably includes atranscoder portion 120 and a storage portion 130. As noted above, somevariants of device 102 may include a transcoder 122 that transcodesreceived video content for subsequent streaming and/or file transfer(“side loading”) to one or more media players 150A-B via personalnetwork 158. Other variants may provide the functions of transcoderportion 120 within a separate device, such as a television receiver,STB, placeshifting device, DVR, standalone network transcoder deviceand/or the like.

The storage portion 130 of portable device 102 suitably includes aprocessor 132, data storage 137, and a wireless network interface 138.Data storage 137 may be any sort of solid state, magnetic, optical orother data storage capable of storing transcoded video programs 142.Data storage 137 may be implemented using one or more flash memories,SDRAMs, hard disk drives and/or the like, to provide just a fewexamples. Some embodiments may incorporate removable storage, such asmicroSD, miniSD, or other memory cards, as desired.

Wireless network interface 138 suitably includes an antenna and otherappropriate hardware and software to host a personal local area network158. In various embodiments, personal network 158 is an IEEE 802.11(“Wi-Fi”) network that can be readily joined by any number ofconventional computers, phones, tablets, media players and/or otherdevices. The network may be password protected, encrypted and/orotherwise secured to protect against unauthorized access. In variousembodiments, personal LAN 158 is primarily used to provide video contentfrom device 102 to client devices 150A-B. It may not be necessary thatLAN 158 have access to the Internet or any external networks to supportvideo transfers; indeed, device 102 may be of convenient use in vehiclesor in other settings where WAN access might not be readily available.

Processor 132 provides a storage manager function 134, a data serverfunction 135, and control functions as appropriate. In variousembodiments, each function 134 and 135 is implemented in software orfirmware stored in memory and executed by processor 132. Variousembodiments implement processor 132 and its various functions 134, 135using a system-on-a-chip (SOC) processor that includes appropriateprocessing circuitry, memory and input/output features as needed.Processor 132 may be a secure processor that includes encrypted memoryportions (e.g., using AES-128 or similar encryption) to protect againsthacking or reverse engineering. Other embodiments may provide equivalentfunctions in a conventional microprocessor, microcontroller, digitalsignal processor, ASIC, programmable logic array and/or other hardware,as desired.

Electric power for processor 132, storage 137 and network interface 138may be provided in any manner. In various embodiments, a battery 131 isprovided to facilitate operation in vehicles, while commuting and/or inother settings where electricity may not be conveniently available.Other embodiments may receive electrical power through a conventionalpower source (e.g., a power supply that receives electricity from aconventional AC outlet or the like).

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the portable storage portion 130receives electrical power through a detachable interface 125 totranscoder portion 120. Interface 125 may be, for example, a universalserial bus (USB) connector, LIGHTNING connector, or the like thatprovides interfaces 126 and 127 for providing data and electricity(respectively) to storage portion 130, as appropriate. In this example,electrical power received via interface 127 could recharge battery 131as needed, and/or supplement power supplied by battery 131. Interface127 could also supply electrical power from an external power sourcesuch as an electrical outlet, a USB battery, a USB slot of a personalcomputer or the like if transcoder portion 120 is not available, asdesired. As noted above, some implementations may provide transcodeportion 120 and storage portion 130 in a common unit; in suchembodiments, there would be no need to physically separate portions 120and 130 from each other, so interface 125 may not be needed.Alternatively interface 125 may be a conventional data bus thattransfers data from transcoder 122 for storage in portion 130, but thatmay not supply electrical power between portions 120 and 130.

Transcoder portion 120 suitably includes a transcoding processor 122 anda network interface 121 to a home or other local area network 104. Inthe example shown in FIG. 1, interface 121 is an IEEE 802.3 interface toa conventional ETHERNET network; equivalent embodiments may use otherinterfaces, including WI-FI or other wireless interfaces as desired. Insome implementations, interface 121 may be eliminated or combined withwireless interface 138 in any manner.

Transcoding processor 122 is any processing hardware and softwarecapable of transcoding media programming into a digital format that canbe delivered via personal network 158. Different embodiments may supportany number of different formats, including any formats for streaming orside-loading, as desired. In various embodiments, transcoding techniquesgenerally used for placeshifting could be applied. Unlike placeshiftingtechniques that adapt the transcoding of the media stream in response tothen-current network conditions, however, suitable default transcodingparameters may be selected in many settings to reflect that network 158is more predictable that most connections that support traditionalplaceshifting, and to reflect that transcoding occurs prior to streamingin this instance. Transcoding may nevertheless involve converting thereceived media content from formats typically associated with DBS,cable, terrestrial broadcasts (e.g., MPEG) and/or formats typically usedfor storage in a DVR or the like into a format that is suitable forstreaming on a digital network. Such conversion may involve translationfrom one digital encoding format to another, as well as any appropriatecompression and/or encryption to preserve the security of the underlyingcontent. Other actions may be additionally or alternately performed aspart of the transcoding function.

Various embodiments of transcoder 120 may include storage 124 forstoring pre-encoded video programs 141 and/or transcoded video programs142 as desired. Programming content to be transcoded may be manually orautomatically obtained from any number of content sources 105A-C thatare accessible via interface 121. In the example of FIG. 1, contentsource 105A is a television receiver with a DVR that stores programsrecorded by the user, and content source 105B is a personal computerwith a hard drive that includes stored media programs. Both contentsources 105A-B may execute software applications that interact withtranscoding portion 120 to manually and/or automatically transfercontent over network 104 for transcoding. Content may also be receivedfrom a video-on-demand (VOD), remote storage digital video recorder(RSDVR), or other source 105C accessible via the Internet or anotherwide area network 108.

Un-transcoded programs 141 obtained from content sources 105A-C may betemporarily stored in storage 124 prior to transcoding. Aftertranscoding, the transcoded video content 142 may be temporarily storedin storage 124 if storage portion 130 is detached or otherwise notimmediately available. When storage portion 130 is in contact withtranscoder portion 120, transcoded media content is transferred viainterface 125 to transcoder portion for storage in data storage 137.

The storage manager 134 manages the transcoded programming 142 stored instorage 137. In various embodiments, storage manager 134 maintains alist 143 of all of the stored programs 142. This list 143 can besupplied to media player client applications 152 to provide a directoryof programs available for retrieval or streaming via network 158, asdescribed more fully below.

In some implementations, a secure processor 132 of storage portion 130authenticates with transcoder 122 and/or authentication service 107 on arepeating basis (e.g., daily, monthly, etc.) to maintain the integrityof system 100. Client applications 152 executing on media players 150A-Bmay also authenticate with processor 132, transcoder 122 and/orauthentication service 107, as described more fully below.

In operation, then, storage manager 134 directs the storage oftranscoded program files 142 on storage 137 and data server 135 providesaccess to stored files 142 via network 158. In various embodiments, dataserver 135 is based upon conventional hypertext transport protocol(HTTP) constructs similar to a conventional web server. This allowsclient applications 152 to request file list 143, to select programsavailable from the list, and to receive streams or files that includethe requested programming via the personal network 158.

The security and integrity of system 100 may be protected in any numberof different ways. As noted above, processor 132 may include encryptedmemory regions to protect against reverse engineering and discovery ofencryption keys or other secure data. Transcoded content 143 may besecured with digital rights management (DRM) or persistent rightsmanagement (PRM) such as the MEDIAACCESS PRM product available fromNagra Kudelski of Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Switzerland, although othercryptography, DRM or PRM products could be used in any number ofequivalent embodiments. Further embodiments could require theregistration of client applications 152, users and/or client devices150A-B with transcoder 122 and/or authentication service 107 prior touse. Storage portion 130 could disable access to programs 142 after someperiod of time (e.g., several weeks to a month, as desired) unless thestorage portion 130 re-authenticates with transcoder 122 and/orauthorization service 107 to prevent portion 130 from becoming a mediumof content transfer. Further, access to the personal network 158 may belimited to an appropriate number of simultaneous users, each of whom mayregister with a password to prevent unfettered access to content 142 onstorage 137. Other embodiments may provide alternate or additionalfeatures, as desired.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an exemplary process 200 to securely delivertranscoded media files to one or more media player clients suitablyincludes the broad steps of selecting media content (function 207),obtaining and transcoding the selected content (functions 214 and 216),storing the transcoded media files 142 in storage 137 (function 224),providing a personal network 158 from the portable storage device 130(function 230), and securely providing requested program content tomedia players 150 via personal network 158 (function 240). These basicfunctions may be supplemented as desired to improve security,functionality and convenience to the user as desired.

As noted above, many embodiments will restrict access to stored content142 by ensuring that media player clients 150 are authorized to receivecontent. To that end, portable device 130 and/or each media player 150receiving content 142 from device 130 will typically register with anauthentication authority 107 (functions 201, 202). In variousembodiments, the authentication authority 107 could be an Internet orother network service operated by a media content provider or otherservice provider. In other embodiments, however, the authenticationauthority 107 may be incorporated into a set top box, network deviceand/or other content source 105, provided that the device providing theauthority 107 is built with adequately secure hardware and software toprevent unauthorized access or tampering. In the illustrated embodiment,media player 150 registers with the portable device 130 (function 202),which then forwards the registration request to the authenticationauthority 107 (function 203) for approval. In some implementations,registrations 201, 203 occur when the portable device 130 is connectedto the transcoding device 120; in other embodiments, storage device 130contacts the authentication authority 107 directly, as desired.

Authentication authority 107 verifies that the user, media player 150and/or storage device 130 are approved to receive content 142. If so,the authority 107 issues an approval 204 that can be stored in securestorage of the portable device 130 (function 205). Portable device 130will typically store a copy of a player ID or other credential that isuniquely associated with each approved media player 150, and willforward a copy of the credential to the player itself for use insubsequent authentication (function 206). Credential 211 may includedigital cryptographic data generated by the portable device 130, bytranscoder 120, by media player 150 itself, by authentication service107, and/or by any combination of these sources. Credentials assigned tostorage device 130 and/or media players 150 may be renewed on anytemporal basis (e.g., weekly, monthly, etc.) if desired to preventimproper use of content stored on storage device 130. Re-authenticationof storage device 130 and/or media players 150 with authorizationservice 107 from time-to-time can prevent unauthorized long-termtransfers of content stored on the device 130, if desired.

Content stored on portable device 130 may be selected in any manner. Invarious embodiments, one or more users select content for storage ondevice 130 using an authenticated media player 150 (function 207). Insuch embodiments, content available from one or more program sources 105may be listed for the user, who is then able to select specific contentsfor transcoding and storage on device 130. The program list may beprovided via an electronic program guide (EPG) or similar listingavailable from a network service, from one or more content sources 105,and/or from any other source. In various embodiments, a clientapplication executing on media player 150 displays program guide dataand other listings of available programming for placeshifting,recording, viewing or other functions. The user is allowed to select oneor more programs and, using any suitable interface features, to directthat the selected program be transcoded and stored on the portabledevice 130 (function 208). In such embodiments, a network service (e.g.,service 107 or another service on network 108) receives the programselection from media player 150 and directs content source 105 todeliver the selected program to transcoder 120 for storage on device130. In other embodiments, the media player 150 communicates directlywith a set top box, DVR or other content source 105 to select andretrieve programs for transcoding and storage.

Transcoder 120 therefore discovers and obtains media content from one ormore content sources 105 using any appropriate techniques (function212). Rather than receiving programs selected by a user, for example,some implementations could alternately or additionally allow transcoder120 to automatically communicate with the various content sources 105 toidentify and transfer some or all of the programming available from thatdevice (function 214). That is, the transcoder 120 could use any processor algorithm to automatically select content to store on device 130, asdesired. The content discovery and delivery process may be automated inany manner and/or users may manually direct the transfer of programs tofor transcoding and storage in any other manner, as desired.

Transcoding of received media content (function 216) suitably involvesplacing the content in an appropriate digital format for storage andretrieval as described herein. In various embodiments, transcoding mayinvolve compressing broadcast or downloaded video data, converting tovideo formats that are compatible with media players 150 and/or personalnetwork 158, encrypting the video prior to storage, and/or otherfunctions as desired.

In some embodiments, storage device 130 authenticates with thetranscoder 120 prior to receiving the transcoded content 142 (function218). This authentication may involve providing a digital code or otheridentifier as desired. Transcoder 120 may confirm the authorization withauthentication system 107, if desired (function 220, 221).Authentication may not be required prior to every video transfer, butregular re-authentication of the portable device 130 can prevent thedevice 130 from becoming a medium of content transfer in someembodiments.

If the authentication is successful, then transcoder 120 provides thetranscoded video content to portable device 160 (function 222).Transcoder 120 also provides any cryptographic keys or other datanecessary for processing DRM/PRM of the transcoded programs 142. Keysmay be stored in a secure memory associated with processor 132, asappropriate. Transcoded programs 142 are placed in storage 137 fortransport and subsequent retrieval, as appropriate (function 224).

When the portable device 130 is in use, it suitably provides its ownWi-Fi zone or other appropriate personal wireless network 158, asdescribed above (function 230). In various embodiments, portable device130 acts as a wireless access point (WAP) or other host that serves datato one or more media players 150 via a private wireless network 158 thatis restricted to authorized media players 150. To that end, mediaplayers 150 suitably request access to the personal network 158(function 232), and portable device 130 provides network addresses orother credentials necessary for participation in personal network 158(function 233). In various embodiments, media players 150 providepasswords or other credentials prior to receiving access to the privatenetwork 158. Credentials may include the player ID previously receivedfrom the portable device 130 during the earlier registration. In suchembodiments, portable device 130 may compare the received credentialswith the stored credentials to perform an off-line authentication of themedia player 150 even when authentication server 107 is not available(function 235). Portable device 130 may restrict the total number ofmedia players 150 that have simultaneous access to the personal network158, as desired, to prohibit mis-use of content stored on the device 130or for other purposes. Portable device 130 may also reject media players150 that have outdated credentials. By requiring media players 150 torefresh their credentials with the authentication authority 107 fromtime to time, additional forms of mis-use can be prevented.

The media player 150 requests the content list 143 (function 234) thatdescribes the transcoded programs 142 held in storage 137 (function236). The user appropriately selects a program 142 to view (function238), and the selected program is provided to the media player 150 overpersonal network 258 in an appropriate manner (function 240). As notedabove, different embodiments could deliver the selected program 142 as amedia stream, as a side-loaded file transfer, or in any other manner. Asnoted above, a portable device 130 could readily provide separate videofeeds to multiple simultaneous users. This could allow, for example,multiple family members to simultaneously watch separate programs ontheir own media players 150.

The various security mechanisms shown in FIG. 2 can be used to preservethe integrity of transcoded programs delivered to the media player. Incontrast to conventional file sharing systems in which media files aresimply stored without restriction, various embodiments use digitalcredentials to securely provide stored programs only to those mediaplayers that have been previously authenticated and approved to receivesuch data. Additional embodiments could further enhance the security ofthe system by requiring the portable device 130 and/or media players 150to periodically renew their credentials, by limiting the number of mediaplayers 150 that are able to access the storage device, to limit thenumber of simultaneous connections to private network 158, and/or bytaking other actions as appropriate. Through the use of digitalcryptography and/or other access controls, content stored on device 130may be limited to playback on one or more media players 150, or certainprograms may be associated with certain players while other programsremain accessible by other players 150. Further, the storage device 130could be uniquely associated with a particular transcoder 120 and/ordata source 105, as desired. Still other embodiments could require thatthe storage device 130 be interfaced with transcoding device 120 and/orcontent source 105 while authentication of the storage device 130 and/orone or more media players 150 takes place. Additional or otherconstraints may be imposed to further enhance the security of the systemas desired.

Although FIG. 2 and the discussion herein often refers to the“transcoding portion 120” and the “storage portion 130” as separatedevices, other embodiments could combine the transcoder and storageportions within a common housing or chassis to make a portabletranscoder device with delivery capabilities, as noted at the outset.Other embodiments will implement the storage function 130 in a separatedevice that cooperates with an transcoder 122 provided in a set top box,television receiver, placeshifting device, video recording device,standalone network transcoder and/or the like. Many different variationscould be formulated in a wide array of equivalent embodiments.

The term “exemplary” is used herein to represent one example, instanceor illustration that may have any number of equivalent alternatives. Anyimplementation described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to beconstrued as preferred or advantageous over other possibleimplementations. While several example embodiments have been presentedin the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that avast number of alternate but equivalent variations exist, and theexamples presented herein are not intended to limit the scope,applicability, or configuration of the invention in any way. To thecontrary, various changes may be made in the function and arrangement ofelements described without departing from the scope of the claims andtheir legal equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A portable device to deliver video content to atleast one media player device, the portable data processing systemcomprising: a transcoder configured to receive video content and totranscode the received video content into a format that is suitable fordelivery to the at least one media player device over a personalwireless network: a data interface to communicate via an externalnetwork: a data storage configured to store the transcoded videocontent; a wireless network interface configured to provide a wirelessaccess point to the that hosts a personal wireless network; and aprocessor configured to receive a digital credential identifying the atleast one media player device via the data interface connected to theexternal network, wherein the digital credential is issued by anauthenticator service accessible via a wide area network separate fromthe personal wireless network, to store the digital credential receivedfrom the authenticator service, to issue addresses on the personalwireless network to the at least one media player device, to receivesubsequent connection requests comprising digital credentials from theat least one media player device via the personal wireless network and,in response to the subsequent connection requests, to verify that the atleast one media player device is authorized to receive the transcodedvideo content by comparing the digital credentials received from the atleast one media player via the personal wireless network to the digitalcredentials previously received from the authenticator service eventhough the external network is no longer available, and to deliver thetranscoded video content to the at least one media player device via thepersonal wireless network if the digital credentials received from theat least one media player device via the personal wireless network matchthe digital credentials previously received from the authenticatorservice via the wide area network, and otherwise not delivering thetranscoded video content to the at least one media player device via thepersonal wireless network.
 2. The portable device of claim 1 wherein thetranscoded video content is encrypted prior to storage on the portabledevice, and wherein the processor is further configured to decrypt thetranscoded video content prior to delivering the transcoded videocontent to the at least one media player.
 3. The portable device ofclaim 1 wherein the personal wireless network is an IEEE 802.11 networkhosted by the portable device.
 4. The portable device of claim 1 whereinthe format that is suitable for delivery to the at least one mediaplayer is a streaming video format.
 5. The portable device of claim 4wherein the portable device is configured to simultaneously delivermultiple video streams of the transcoded video content to multiple mediaplayer devices via the personal wireless network.
 6. The portable deviceof claim 1 further comprising a battery configured to provide electricalpower to the data storage, the wireless network interface and theprocessor during delivery of the video content to the at least one mediaplayer.
 7. A method executable by a portable video storage device todeliver video content to a media player, the method comprising:receiving a digital credential from an authentication service at theportable video storage device via a first digital network, wherein thedigital credential identifies the media player; storing transcoded videocontent in a data storage of the portable video storage device;providing a wireless access point to a personal wireless network by theportable video storage device, wherein the personal wireless network isseparate from the first digital network and wherein the portable videostorage device issues an address on the personal wireless network to themedia player device; receiving a connection request from the mediaplayer at the portable video storage device via the personal wirelessnetwork, wherein the connection request comprises the digital credentialidentifying the media player; and verifying that the media player isauthorized to receive the transcoded video content by comparing thedigital credential received from the media player via the personalwireless network to the digital credential previously received from theauthentication service though the data interface even though the firstdigital network is no longer available; and if the digital credentialreceived from the media player via the personal wireless network matchesthe digital credential previously received from the authenticationservice via the first digital network, the portable video storage deviceproviding the transcoded video content from the portable video storagedevice to the media player device via the personal wireless network, andotherwise not providing the transcoded video content via the personalwireless network.
 8. The method of claim 7 further comprisingtranscoding received video content in a format that is suitable fordelivery to the media player over the personal wireless network.
 9. Themethod of claim 7 wherein the transcoded video content is encryptedprior to storage on the portable video storage device, and furthercomprising decrypting the transcoded video content prior to deliveringthe transcoded video content to the media player.
 10. The method ofclaim 7 further comprising the portable video storage device issuing anaddress on the personal wireless network to the media player device ifthe media player device is authorized to receive the transcoded videocontent, and otherwise not issuing an address on the personal wirelessnetwork to the media player device.
 11. The method of claim 10 whereinthe transcoded video content is received in a streaming video format,and wherein providing comprises simultaneously delivering multiple videostreams of the transcoded video content to multiple media player devicesvia the personal wireless network.
 12. A portable device to delivervideo streams to at least one media player device, the portable devicecomprising: a data interface to communicate via an external network; adata storage configured to store video content that is transcoded in avideo streaming format; a wireless network interface configured toprovide a wireless access point to the that hosts a personal wirelessnetwork; and a processor configured to receive a digital credentialidentifying the at least one media player device via the data interface,wherein the digital credential is issued by an authenticator serviceaccessible via a wide area network separate from the personal wirelessnetwork, to store the digital credential received from the authenticatorservice, to issue addresses on the personal wireless network, to receivesubsequent connection requests comprising digital credentials from theat least one media player device via the personal wireless network, toverify that the at least one media player device is authorized toreceive the transcoded video content by comparing the digitalcredentials received from the at least one media player via the personalwireless network to the digital credentials previously received from theauthenticator service even though the wide area network is no longeravailable, and, if the at least one media player device is authorized,to deliver the transcoded video content to the at least one media playerdevice via the personal wireless network, and otherwise not deliveringthe transcoded video content to the at least one media player device viathe personal wireless network.
 13. The portable device of claim 12wherein the data interface is an interface to a transcoder thattranscodes the video content into the video streaming format.
 14. Theportable device of claim 13 wherein the data interface is a universalserial bus (USB) interface that supplies data and electrical power tothe portable device.
 15. The portable device of claim 14 wherein theprocessor verifies that the at least one media player device isauthorized to receive the transcoded video content even though aconnection to the authenticator service is no longer available.
 16. Theportable device of claim 12 further comprising a battery configured toprovide electrical power to the data storage, the wireless networkinterface and the processor during delivery of the video content to theat least one media player.
 17. The portable device of claim 12 whereinthe portable device is configured to simultaneously deliver multiplevideo streams of the transcoded video content to multiply media playerdevices via the personal wireless network.